Italian Recipes

Fivenations

Spaghetti alla Carbonara

INGREDIENTS

• 225g pancetta or smoked bacon, cut into 6mm strips
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• small knob butter
• 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and lightly crushed
• 4 tablespoons dry white wine
• 500g spaghetti
• 3 eggs
• 25g Pecorino cheese
• 60 g Parmesan cheese
• 2 tablespoon chopped parsley
  NO cream!

METHOD
First make sure the table, any other dishes, and diners are ready as the pasta must be served as soon as it is ready.
Place oil, butter and crushed garlic into saucepan or small sauté pan and turn on heat to medium high. When garlic turns a deep golden, remove and discard it.
Put the pancetta or bacon into the pan and sauté until it begins to be crisp at the edges.
Add the wine, and let it boil away for a minute or two then turn off heat.
Bring water to boil and add spaghetti
While pasta is cooking take the bowl from which you will be serving the pasta later and break into it three eggs. Beat them lightly then mix in the cheeses, parsley, salt and pepper.
When pasta is cooked - al dente – drain it and put it into the serving bowl with the egg and cheese mixture. Toss rapidly until well mixed.
Reheat the pancetta bacon quickly over a high heat then pour over the spaghetti. Toss and serve IMMEDIATELY.

Miró

Please can anyone help?

I once had a pasta dish in an Italian restaurant and the sauce was called something like 'Lady of the Night Sauce', (yes, really!), only in Italian of course. It had anchovies and olives and capers i think and was totally delish. Does anyone know the proper name and a recipe would be even better?

Thanks

Fivenations

This should be thick, not souplike.

• 1.2 litres water
• 150g lentils
• 2 large cloves garlic, crushed
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 cup chopped canned plum tomatoes, with some juice
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes
• 200g vermicelli
• 2 rounded tablespoons finely chopped parsley

Optional: Extra virgin olive oil and chiili flakes or hot pepper oil for garnish.

Boil the water in a medium sized saucepan, add the lentils and cook, covered, over medium-high heat, until nearly but not entirely tender, about 20 minutes.
Add the garlic, the olive oil, the tomatoes, the salt and the pepper. Reduce the heat, cover, and continue to simmer briskly for another 10 minutes, stirring a few times, or until the lentils are completely cooked. You may need to add more water to stop it sticking.
Break cappellini into 2- to 4-inch pieces and add them to the lentils. Cook, covered over a low heat stirring several times and scraping the bottom of the pot when you do. Cook until pasta is just done, stirring more frequently as it gets closer to that point.
Remove the pot from the heat, stir in the parsley, cover the pot and let stand for about 5 minutes before serving.
Serve with extra virgin oli or chiili flakes for people to drizzle over as they wish. No need for cheese.

livalot

Miró wrote: »

Please can anyone help?

I once had a pasta dish in an Italian restaurant and the sauce was called something like 'Lady of the Night Sauce', (yes, really!), only in Italian of course. It had anchovies and olives and capers i think and was totally delish. Does anyone know the proper name and a recipe would be even better?

Thanks

Hello Miro,

hope nobdy minds, but I just had to reply to this post as it made me :rotfl:
I am pretty sure the sauce you want is Puttanesca sauce, as a "puttana" in Italian is a lady of the night - if you know what I mean! You could have a look at this recipe http://italianmade.com/recipes/recipe246.cfm to start with, or maybe you will get someone posting their tried and trusted recipe for this sauce as I have not made it for many years!

Livalot xx

by the way "peperoncino" in this recipe is a small chilli pepper, but I would just use dried chilli flakes - either way this is essential to the recipe as it needs to be quiet hot and steamy :rotfl:

Fivenations

Puttanesca is a also known in English as Harlot's Sauce! Apparently, it got it's name as it is so quick to cook that they could knock it together in between customers! And they say Italians are sentimental.

Peem

Fivenations wrote: »

Another quick lunch that my Nonna would make was simply to cook and drain some long grain rice or vermicelli (very thin spaghetti) and mix in a generous knob of butter and a handful of parmesan cheese, or whatever cheese she had to hand.

This was always one of our meals on a saturday night when we got to watch the "Dukes of Hazzard" while eating (a big thing to be permitted) as just the kids (mum and dad ate later - the only night of the week they did).

We called it parmesano. I was shocked a couple of years ago to actually find a recipe for it. Now I've seen it in a few books. It is much better with grated fresh parmesan than the dry dusty pregrated stuff my mum uses (she will not be convinced the fresh stuff is better!)

It is one of my DDs favourite meals. I may join her for lunch today! Mmm Luke Duke!!!

Plum_Pie

Fried Veg Starter

Slice aubergine into rounds 0.5cm thick and sprinkle with salt.
Leave in a colander for 30 mins + until much of the water has drained out.
Dab off salt excess salt.
Beat 1 egg in a small bowl.
Get another bowl/breadcrumbs of bread crumbs (1 or 2 slices-worth).
Dip aub slices in egg, then breadcrumbs, then fry in v hot olive oil.


Slice courgette into batons (i.e. little sticks 3cm long and 0.5cm wide)
Soak in hot water for 15 mins.
Pat dry.
Egg, bread crumb and fry as for aubergines.

Eat quickly. Mmmmm.

nibs

here's a tip my MIL forgot to mention for the first ten years of me trying to perfect my basic tomato sauce.

Always add a ladle of water from the cooked pasta - its contains starch- which helps the sauce stick to the pasta, and not drip off it.

took me years to perfect my meatballs as well as I never knew to soak the bread in milk! These minor details make all the difference!

Fivenations

Sorry It's been so quiet. I've been too busy and also not physically able to type much.

Eggs in Purgatory

This is from the Campania region, around Naples, and is a great brunch or light supper. The tomatoes represent hell, hence it's name.

flourgirl

Fivenations I notice on your meal plan for this week that you will be having Pasta al forno, is there any chance that you could post the recipie please, as this is my favourite at our local Italian Resturant?
Thanks
fg